The present invention relates to plants for the electroslag melting of consumable electrodes and more particularly to a plant for the electroslag melting of hollow ingots shaped as non-closed cylinders which have found favor in producing cement kiln bands, flanges, rims, shells for pressure vessels and other articles.
Known in the art is a plant for the electroslag melting of hollow ingots shaped as non-closed cylinders by feeding consumable electrodes into the melting space of a water-cooled mould and withdrawing therefrom an ingot with the aid of a carrier. A base plate with a dummy bar is fixed on the carrier.
In the above plant, the ingot-shaping side walls of the mould are radially congruent with an ingot being melted. The mould has a rectangular cross section and is fixed on the base plate.
The carrier for withdrawing an ingot is mounted on the side of one of the mould end faces in the vicinity of the mould. The carrier is made as a driving flat wheel on which an outboard base plate with a dummy bar is secured at right angles to the driving wheel plane. The base plate closes the mould melting space from below at the initial moment.
Immersed in the mould melting space are electrodes, in the form of rectilinear rods whose top ends are fixed in electrode holders. To secure the electrode holders and to feed the consumable electrodes into the mould, the plant is furnished with individual devices.
As the consumable electrodes are being melted, they are lowered into the melting space of the mould and a hollow cylindrical ingot is withdrawn from below due to the rotation of the carrier with the base plate and the dummy bar about its horizontal axis.
When melting hollow ingots shaped as non-closed cylinders in the known plant, due to an outboard attachment of the base plate with the dummy bar on a wheel-shaped carrier, the end of the base plate is liable to displace vertically in the course of withdrawal of the ingot.
With ingots of large lengths, this can cause the skewing and jamming of the ingot in the mould and the effluence of slag and metal therefrom, the ensuing discontinuation of the melting process and the production of low-quality ingots. Therefore, in our opinion, the length of the ingots being melted should be limited and should not exceed 300 - 500 mm depending on their thickness.
Moreover, the production of ingots of a strictly cylindrical shape poses a problem since, as a result of deformation brought about by bending moment, the ingots are shaped into a spiral.
The use in the above-described plant of consumable electrodes in the form of rectilinear rods necessitating the use of additional means for their securing and feeding into the mold melting space complicates the plant, makes it cumbersome and metal-consuming (particularly when melting ingots of large diameters), with a corresponding increase in the cost of the entire plant.